Dr Aideen Hayden, PhD graduate of the school, Chair of Threshold, the National Housing Charity, and Senator (a former Seanad Eireann Spokesperson on Housing, Children and Youth Affairs and Spokesperson Housing, Spokesperson on Finance and Spokesperson on European Affairs, as well as Vice-Chair of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform) received a 2016 UCD Alumni Award for Social Science. Full details of the award, and a more extensive biography can be found on the awards page here.